2010: My Favorite Books

These are books that I read in 2010, not necessarily books that were published in 2010. They are in no particular order.

1. The Help by Kathryn Stockett – The dialog and characterization in The Help were authentic and engrossing. I was emotionally invested in each of the women’s lives and hated turning the last page of this novel.
2. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro – I fell in love with Ishiguro’s writing style and the way this novel features normal people dealing with extraordinary circumstances.
3. A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan – This string of related short stories was the most surprisingly good book I read this year. I’m really excited to read her other books.
4. The Road by Cormac McCarthy – McCarthy is one of the most amazing living authors today. I have a total brain crush on him.
5. Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss – Who knew that I (the lover of sparse prose) would love a doorstopper epic fantasy? I can’t wait until March 1st when Wise Man’s Fear comes out. If my brain crush is McCarthy, my fictional character crush is Kvothe.

2010: My year in reading

Now that I have crammed six months of book reviews into one week I can compose my annual “year in reading” post for 2010. I will write a post about my favorite books read in 2010 soon. Here are the numbers:

• Number of books read: 52
• Longest book: Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
• Most challenging book: Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges
• Books read for book club: 12
• Young adult: 6
• Fiction: 48
• Nonfiction: 4
• Author who I read the most: Tie between Anita Shreve and Kristin Cashore

2010 was my biggest reading year so far, which is surprising since I had no goal. I will continue reading without number goals because it really worked for me in 2010. There were months when the only book I read was the book club book and months when I read nonstop. There is no reason for me to feel guilty for deciding to spend all my free time knitting for a while because I have some arbitrary reading goal. In 2008, setting a 50 book reading goal really got me into the groove of reading a lot more than I was before, and that habit has persisted with no need for me to set a number every year. My hat goes off to those of you who read 100 books or more every year. I can’t knit and read at the same time so I’ll never read that many books in a year as long as I have to work for a living!

I bought a Nook this year, which has been a great investment so far. I love that I can have a bunch of books with me and not break my back carrying them around. It’s a great way to read classics I’ve been meaning to get to since they are free and easily accessed this way. I have definitely been taking advantage of my library’s ebook collection and putting in purchase requests to our collection management department for more. I was a hesitant convert to e-readers, but I have seen the light. I wouldn’t want cookbooks or knitting books in this format, but it is a great way to read novels.

My reading goals for 2011:

1. Continue to restrict myself to reading no more than two books in a row by the same author. This really helped with “series fatigue” in 2010.
2. Read more romances. This is the one genre I have trouble with for readers’ advisory at the library. I’m reading Smart Bitches, Trashy Books to close the gaps in my knowledge and will read some of their book suggestions this year.

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell was our book club book for December. The first time I heard about this book was about a year ago from one of the members of our book club who was raving about it. The next day, I looked at the back cover at the library and dismissed it because it is about the Jesuits making first contact with an alien race. What? It sounded like a ridiculous premise. Over time, I heard more and more people who I trust rave about this book so I was not as hesitant when my husband chose it as his book club selection.

I’m so glad I read The Sparrow. It is a beautifully moving story of a group of people who travel to the planet, Rakhat, to make contact with the species there. The novel goes back and forth between the story of the lone survivor after the fact and the story of the mission from its inception. Russell’s strength in the The Sparrow is her characterizations. If you are a fan of strongly developed characters, you will enjoy this novel whether or not you usually enjoy science fiction. I was so attached to each of the characters that I cried when bad things would happen to them. That is not a spoiler because you know there is only one survivor from the first pages of the novel.

Russell’s treatment of religion in this novel was surprisingly even-handed. My book club is made up of atheists, agnostics, and religious/spiritual people of varying degrees and everyone was happy with the way she approached matters of faith.

Why are you still reading this review? Go read The Sparrow!

Bright Young Things by Anna Godbersen

Bright Young Things is the first book in a new series by Anna Godbersen, author of The Luxe series. When I finished reading The Luxe series, I was really excited to find out that Godbersen had a new series set in the jazz age. This is one of my favorite time periods to read about, and I knew from her other series that she writes very fun and readable historical fiction. Godbersen is not afraid to piss off her readers and do the unexpected with her characters so you never know what is going to happen in her books.

My very high expectations for Bright Young Things were met and exceeded. Much like The Luxe series, there are three main characters introduced in this novel: Letty, Cordelia, and Astrid. Letty and Cordelia are small town girls who travel to New York City together to make it big. Astrid is living with her mother and stepfather in a mansion on Long Island. Each of the girls has some adversity they must overcome, and they all find out that what they desire is much different than they imagined. I gobbled this book up in two sittings, and I cannot wait for the next one to come out.  

Godbersen is a master at showing rather than telling, which helps to immerse the reader in the time period without being bogged down by page after page of description. Also, how fabulous is the cover? I love that the publisher is continuing the cover concept from her other series.

A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan

Because I don’t think I can improve on the review I wrote for this book on my library’s blog, I have made a few minor changes (mainly removing links to our catalog and “readers advisory” jargon) and reposted it here.

I do not often finish a novel and feel the urge to turn back to page one and re-read it immediately. If my stack of library books wasn’t so tall when I read the last page of A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan, I certainly would have done so. Experimental fiction that is immersive and moving is a rarity, and this gem was a pleasure to read.

A Visit from the Goon Squad is both a short story collection and a novel. Each of the vignettes could stand alone as a story, but they are all connected by at least one character and form a cohesive novel when read in order. As the cover art suggests, many of the characters are involved in the music industry, but this ends up serving as a setting rather than the central theme of the book. As one character notes, “time is a goon,” and the overarching theme of these stories is that everyone is at the mercy of the passage of time. We visit many of the characters at different points in their lives and see the vast difference time makes. One of my favorite stories focuses on a former public relations executive who serves as a consultant for a genocidal dictator to support her daughter after a disastrous party ruins her reputation.

Egan wrote one of the chapters entirely in the form of PowerPoint slides. This intrigued me when I picked up the book, but I was worried that this format was a gimmick. It turned out to be easy to follow, and the format served the story rather than the story being told to fit the format.

This is one of my favorite books of the year. Fans of Nicole Krauss and Aimee Bender will love A Visit from the Goon Squad.

More Book Reviews.

This post should get me caught up on all 2010 book reviews except for my favorites, which will each get their own blog post.

The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff – I was initially interested in this young adult novel because it has such cool cover art. The story is set in a town where a child is taken every once in a while and replaced with a changeling. Usually, the changeling dies, but Mackie Doyle lives and is raised by a loving family. This was an interesting coming-of-age story with a lot of heart. I thought the underworld of the city was very well fleshed out. I wasn’t as riveted as I thought I would be by the plot, but I think it would appeal to teens. 3 out of 5 stars.  

American Gods by Neil Gaiman – This was our November book club book. I’m always happy to read more Neil Gaiman. I’m really glad I read Neverwhere before this one because American Gods is not quite as accessible. It was nice to already have an appreciation for his writing style before jumping into this story. The premise is that the old gods are all alive and walking around in America and fighting a war against the new gods. I recommend a new reader of Gaiman start with Neverwhere or one of his youth books before taking on this one. 4 out of 5 stars.

Howards End by E. M. Forster – In 2009, I challenged myself to read a list of 10 books, and this was one of them. It was one of the first classics I loaded onto my Nook from Project Gutenberg, and I finished it on a trip to NY for Thanksgiving. This is the first book I’ve read by Forster, and I really enjoyed his treatment of the clash of social classes in pre-World War England. Of course I loved the setting of the English countryside. I would love to go sit beneath the wych elm tree. I have the DVD from Netflix that I’ll watch soon. 4 out of 5 stars.

Fortunes’s Rocks by Anita Shreve – I really, really wanted to like this book. I so loved The Pilot’s Wife and Shreve’s writing style. Fortune’s Rocks takes place in the same house as The Pilot’s Wife, but at the turn of the century. Olympia Biddeford, at 15, has a sexual relationship with a married man 30 years her senior. I could not sympathize with Olympia or find this relationship romantic in the least. Perhaps it is my modern sensibilities about appropriateness of relations between adults and teenagers that marred this story for me, but Olympia was also very selfish and self absorbed. I found her completely unlikable. 3 out of 5 stars only because Shreve has a way with words.

Warrior by Zoe Archer – I heard about Warrior on Smart Bitches, Trashy Books and thought I’d give this Adventure Romance a try. It had a very Indiana Jones feel, and I was enthralled at the beginning with the interesting magic of the Blades of the Rose society and the unusual setting in Mongolia. Archer lost her way in the second half, and I became bored with both the adventure and the romance. I did like how Thalia was a very independent woman, but the inner monologues of her and Gabriel about how much they loved each other were tedious. There was too much telling and not enough showing. There are four books in the Blades of the Rose series, and I think I’ll still give the next one a try. 3 out of 5 stars for an interesting concept with flawed execution.

How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu – I read about this novel on the NPR Books website. I really loved Yu’s creative world-building and humorous writing style. This is the story of a son searching for his father in a universe where time travel is commonplace, and his father has been missing for an indeterminate amount of time. This novel will appeal to fans of both science fiction and literary fiction. Because Yu’s writing is immensely readable, I gobbled this book up in a few sittings. I can’t wait to see what he comes up with next. 4 out of 5 stars.

Book Reviews

In order to catch up on my book reviews so I can do a 2010 wrap-up post, I’ll be posting some posts with several brief reviews (or just random babbling about the books). My very favorite books that I haven’t reviewed yet will get their own posts. I don’t usually post ratings in my book review blog posts, but since these will be so brief that I may not express how much I like or dislike a book, I’ll tell you what I gave the book on Goodreads.

Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk – I randomly grabbed this book off the swap book stack at my library and started reading it. I have heard many good things about this author. This novel is about a fashion model who becomes disfigured. Really, it’s a commentary about obsession with fame and attention. The book is very cleverly written, but there were times when I felt like Palahniuk was really trying to show you how smart he is rather than advancing the story. I thought to myself, “Oh yes, Chuck, you really think you’re a smartypants.” There’s a bit of crudeness for the sake of shock value that didn’t move the plot forward. 3 out of 5 stars.

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins – Probably the most anticipated book of the year among my library and blogger friends was enjoyable but a bit of a letdown for me. After the first two amazing books in this series, Mockingjay just didn’t measure up. Katniss felt a lot like Bella Swan, which was annoying, even if she had much better reasons for it. Please, YA authors, give me a strong female lead who doesn’t become an angsty mess by the end of the story. Still, I enjoyed reading the final book in this awesome series so it gets 4 out of 5 stars.

The Girls by Lori Lansens – This was a book club book. The Girls is the fictional account of how conjoined twins lived their lives together and still retained their own personalities and interests. The narrative switches between Rose and Ruby and describes their experiences with family, friends, love, and even sex while constantly being attached to each other. Since they are attached at the head, they can never look each other in the eye, but they love each other in a way we could never imagine. This was a powerful book with many wonderful characters. 4 out of 5 stars.

Ape House by Sara Gruen – Next to Mockingjay, Ape House was the next most anticipated book this year among my friends. Gruen had a lot to live up to after Water for Elephants, and she succeeded in proving that she is a very good writer with a knack for characterization of both humans and animals. This novel read very quickly, and I was in love with the Bonobo family at the center of the story. Gruen got lost somewhere in connecting the plots of the Bonobos and the humans so the book felt a bit disjointed at times. Hopefully, she’ll come out with another novel that is a bit more fully realized like Water for Elephants. Enjoyable, but flawed, 4 out of 5 stars.

Half Empty by David Rakoff – I downloaded this audiobook to listen to with Dan on a road trip to Charlottesville for our anniversary. It was the perfect length and topic for both of us to enjoy as we are both avid fans of This American Life, where Rakoff is a frequent contributor. These essays were all loosely connected with a theme of pessimism. As Dan and I are pragmatists, we are often put off by false optimism so we really enjoyed hearing a humorous approach to tearing down the “rabid optimism” prevalent in America. Rakoff reads the audiobook himself so it is great fun since he is adept at the dry humor fans of David Sedaris are likely to enjoy. If you are a fan of inspirational or motivational books, run far away. 4 out of 5 stars.

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

The Road by Cormac McCarthy was one of our book club selections this summer. After being introduced to McCarthy in the same book club with No Country for Old Men, I was very excited to read his most popular work. Not surprisingly, it was amazing. I am in love with the McCarthy’s sparse prose. It really packs a punch for this kind of survival story. I really felt the emotions and fears of the man and his son as they tried to survive an (unknown to the reader) apocalyptic event. The lack of knowledge of what happened before the book or the names of the characters really served to make this a visceral reading experience that stripped the story to the present. Isn’t that what survival really is, making it from one minute to the next?

There were some very gruesome scenes that served to show the reader what McCarthy imagines of mankind in the event of a disaster of this magnitude. Let’s just say he is not optimistic. I can’t recommend this novel enough. Don’t read it for an uplifting look at humanity, but for a bleak view of survival that will keep you turning the pages to find out what happens next.

The Pilot’s Wife by Anita Shreve

I was at a friend’s house for book club, and he had a copy of The Pilot’s Wife on his shelf. I decided to borrow it and see what all the fuss is about. Apparently, all the fuss is about a fantastic book! Shreve has a very readable writing style, with just the right amount of dialog and exposition. The story itself was very gripping from the first page. I always have trouble concentrating on the books I bring to the beach, but The Pilot’s Wife had no trouble holding my interest among the hustle and bustle of the bay on July 4th weekend. (That’s how behind I am on book reviews.)

In case you are the other person who hasn’t read this book, it is about a woman who finds out that her husband’s plane has gone down. As the investigation into the crash goes further and further, she finds out that she didn’t know him as well as she thought she did. A very shocking secret is slowly revealed, and you can really feel the disorientation of the main character as she adjusts to this new picture of her late husband. This book already led me to read another Shreve book that I’ll review soon, and I look forward to reading more from her.

Highly recommended!

Sock it to me!

My newest knitting obsession is socks. Now that I have the sock knitting bug, I feel like I have to have a pair going all the time. They are great portable knitting projects to just grab on the way out the door. I knit on them whenever I’m watching TV or waiting in some sort of office for something. The only problem is that the small needles make my hands hurt after a while so I keep some other projects going also that use larger needles. I’ll do another post about my non-sock projects.

My first two pairs are from a basic “vanilla” sock pattern from Knitting Rules by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee.

Here is my first pair out of Misti Alpaca Hand Painted:

This is my second pair out of Knit One Crochet Too Crock O’ Dye. I actually think these socks are more comfortable than the rainbow ones. The fiber content is really good for socks.

When I finished these, I was looking on Ravelry for patterns to use up leftover sock yarn, and it hit me to make baby socks for a friend who is expecting. They came out really well. I like how they look like miniature adult socks rather than baby booties. I have to say that it is really nice to finish a pair of socks in hours compared to weeks for a pair of adult socks! I had her shower at my house tonight, and she really loved these. I’ll probably make another pair after I finish my current pair of adult socks. They are out of the pink version of this same yarn. They would be really cute out of the Misti Alpaca rainbow yarn, but it isn’t superwash so would be impractical for a new mom. This pattern is Leftovers Baby Socks by Matthew Hesson-McInnis.